Authorities believe a man was injured after coming in contact with sharks at Paia Beach off Hana Highway on Saturday morning, prompting police officers to respond quickly.
A 39-year-old Haiku resident later passed away at a medical facility; their identity remained unreleased.
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Police report that one man is dead following an encounter with a shark at a Maui beach on Saturday morning. Responding officers spotted 39-year-old Jason Carter from Haiku suffering injuries due to the attack before taking him to hospital where he later passed away.
This incident happened at Paia beach located on Hana Highway at Paia and has resulted in its closure for inspection by officials on foot and by boat. Furthermore, shark warning signs were placed along either side of this stretch from Baby Beach to Tavares Bay per the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
DLNR typically follows established communication protocols when handling these types of incidents; however, in response to the man’s death they issued a statement noting it went against these norms. On average only a handful of people are injured by sharks annually in Hawaii with most incidents happening between November and December.
The man was bitten
“This appears to be a shark misidentification,” noted WESH meteorologist Jason Robinson. “Most sharks will quickly move away after getting startled by something nearby and misidentify something as their prey, as was likely the case here.”
Victim is a surfer from South Carolina wearing a gold chain; shark may have misinterpreted him for food and attacked from forehead to jaw. Bite mark appears from forehead to jaw.
Scientists largely agree that sharks usually avoid humans, with most unprovoked attacks happening when people swim through waters where sharks feed. Of the more than 300 shark species that exist today, only 12 have been involved in attacks against people according to University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File; most dangerous in Hawaii’s waters is likely the tiger shark; although the Department of Land and Natural Resources has not reported on what type of shark bit someone in 2023.
The man was rescued
Man fights off shark, but his injuries were too severe for first responders to save him. First responders “brought [him] back to shore and performed lifesaving measures until medical personnel could arrive for further treatment,” police stated in their news release. Unfortunately, the man died shortly thereafter at Maui Memorial Medical Center for treatment; police do not name or identify him, although they believe he hails from Haiku on Maui’s north shore; Baldwin Beach Park and Lower Pa’ia Park were closed immediately, along with warning signs posted from Tavares Bay to Baby Beach after this event.
Although shark attacks are rare, authorities in Hawaii have noticed an uptick in bites from October through December according to FOX reports. Last year alone there were 57 confirmed unprovoked shark encounters reported to University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File which included one fatal encounter on Kauai; later in December a surfer also suffered wounds on their leg and hand from a shark attack off Kauai; both incidents took place near these same waters.
The man died
At around noon on Saturday in Paia’s 93 Hana Highway area, first responders performed life-saving measures before medics arrived to transport an unidentified 39-year-old from Haiku to Maui Memorial Medical Center – where the victim eventually succumbed to his injuries and passed away, officials reported.
Authorities did not describe this incident as an attack and did not offer more details of its nature or extent. Baldwin Beach Park and Lower P’ia Park (Baby Beach) beaches were shut down following this event and an individual involved remains unknown as authorities notify extended family of his identity.
Hawaii was second only to Florida for documented shark attacks since 1995, with hundreds of bites occurring and at least four fatalities worldwide attributed to sharks.